Christian Slater

Slater first made his bones in '80s movies like Heathers (1989), but he became a Hollywood staple via roles in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), True Romance (1993), Broken Arrow (1996), and Very Bad Things (1998). His hijinks with the law have kept the Hollywood tabloids working overtime trying to guess his next move, but haven't had much of a damper on his career. After a brief sabbatical to the English stage, Slater returned to the screen in 2005, in the video game spin-off Alone in the Dark.

Appeal

There's no doubt Slater was one of the top dream boys of the '80s and '90s. His name was enough to send packs of shrieking girls to the theaters. He played the sensitive yet confident boy to perfection, hitting some serious attraction switches in the womenfolk. Proof? He won the MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male for Untamed Heart (1993), and was nominated twice again for his roles in Kuffs (1992) and Interview with the Vampire (1994).

Success

Okay, so Christian Slater was born into the best network of movie contacts imaginable: his father, godfather and brother are all actors, and his mother is a casting director. But give the guy some credit. He was on the stage at 9 and on Broadway by 13. The following year he had bit roles in TV shows and movies, and by his 16th birthday he had begun his movie career.

There's only so far good contacts will take you, but Slater picked up the momentum and took off on his own. With Heathers (1989) he became the new "It" boy for teenage girls. He stayed on his heartthrob streak with Pump Up the Volume (1990), Robin Hood (1991), Kuffs (1992), and Bed of Roses (1996).

But even as he pleased the teens, Slater showed that he could do adult roles as well, starring in True Romance (1993) and Hard Rain (1998). And even as his legal woes piled up and his fame waned, Slater showed that he could laugh at himself, popping up in bit roles in Star Trek VI (1991) and Austin Powers (1997).

Cleaned up from booze and coke, Slater took to the English stage in 2004, where he began building his reputation as a real actor again. Now, he's set to return to the screen with 2005's Alone in the Dark and A License to Steal.

Christian Slater Biography

Christian Michael Leonard Hawkins was born in New York on August 18, 1969, to a family of movie professionals -- his mother, Mary Jo Slater, is a major casting director, and his father, Michael Hawkins, and half-brother Ryan, are actors. Even Slater's godfather, Michael Zaslow was a screen actor.

Slater got an early start in acting, taking to the theater stage at age 9 in The Music Man. In his early teens he was part of the cast of Merlin, one of the most expensive bombs in Broadway history.

christian slater in heathers

In 1981, Slater went on a short streak of minor television roles before starring in his first film, The Legend of Billie Jean (1985). But it was his next part, a nearly speechless role alongside Sean Connery in The Name of the Rose (1986) that earned him some notice. Nonetheless, Slater was still a relative unknown three years and four movies later, until he played a murderous high schooler in Heathers.

When fame finally came for Slater, it didn't come easy. The young actor had more than a few brushes with the law. In 1989, he led police on a drunken car chase through West Hollywood before crashing into a telephone pole. He tried to escape, kicking an officer and climbing a fence in the process. Slater was eventually charged with evading police, driving under the influence, assault with a deadly weapon (his cowboy boots), and driving with a suspended license.

Slater's roles picked up along with his media exposure. The girls couldn't get enough of him, and casting directors knew it. In 1990, he co-starred in the Western Young Guns II and played a pirate radio jockey in Pump Up the Volume. He then embodied the youthful Will Scarlett in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991).

christian slater in true romance

A die-hard Star Trek fan, Slater had his mother to cast him in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) as a communications officer -- no doubt a great thrill for the man who shaved his eyebrows as a kid to look like Spock. They never grew back properly, hence his uneven brows.

By this time, Slater was winning the lead roles, in both forgotten movies like Kuffs (1992) and Untamed Heart (1993) and massive productions, such as Tarantino's True Romance (1993) and the romance Bed of Roses (1996).

In 1994, Slater was cast as the interviewer in Interview with the Vampire after his friend River Phoenix, who originally had the role, died. Slater donated all his earnings from the movie to Phoenix's favorite charities.

christian slater goes to jail

Slater's legal shenanigans continued in 1994, when he was caught bringing a gun onto a plane. In 1997, he attacked his girlfriend Michelle Jonas while high on cocaine, then bit the reporting police officer in the belly. He was sentenced to three moths in jail, but ended up serving only 59 days because of good behavior.

Out of the clink, Slater starred alongside John Travolta in Broken Arrow (1996) . In 1998, he did the heist thriller Hard Rain and shifted into dark comedy gear with Very Bad Things.

As personal and legal troubles continued to dog him, Slater disappeared from the limelight, gradually descending to movies with negligible box-office impact and ridiculous titles. One such film was Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004), in which he played the legendary British Prime Minister.

christian slater is alone in the dark

In 2004, Slater stepped away from the cameras and took to the London stage, where he played the lead role of Randle P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Slater got a standing ovation after his opening performance and the play has been a hit from thereon.

Slater claims he's now reformed, having put the exuberances of Hollywood life behind him. It was a way to cope with fame, he said, and he takes full blame for his recklessness. As of early 2005, Slater is set for a comeback, and is laying his chips on Alone in the Dark, a horror thriller based on the popular computer game.

During his career, Slater has dated actresses Christina Applegate, Samantha Mathis, Winona Ryder, and Kim Walker. He married Ryan Haddon in 2000 and had two children after convincing her that his days of boozing were over. They are now in the midst of a trial separation.

Slater made the news in 2003 for allegedly being struck with a glass by Haddon in Las Vegas, joining Ryan Haddon, Ben Affleck and Tara Reid (his Alone in the Dark co-star) in a Vancouver strip club, and in early 2005, after escaping a knife attack on a London street.